The Homeland Security Department swept aside evaluations of government experts and named Mississippi -- home to powerful U.S. lawmakers with sway over the agency -- as a top location for a new $451 million, national laboratory to study some of the world's most virulent biological threats, according to internal documents obtained by The Associated Press.

The Homeland Security Department swept aside evaluations of government experts and named Mississippi -- home to powerful U.S. lawmakers with sway over the agency -- as a top location for a new $451 million, national laboratory to study some of the world's most virulent biological threats, according to internal documents obtained by The Associated Press.

China's government lost track of 121 tons of elephant ivory over a dozen years that probably was sold on illegal markets, according to a previously undisclosed Chinese report to U.N. regulatory officials.

China's government lost track of 121 tons of elephant ivory over a dozen years that probably was sold on illegal markets, according to a previously undisclosed Chinese report to U.N. regulatory officials.

The government acknowledged that an outbreak of one of the most contagious animal diseases from any of five locations being considered for a new high-security laboratory -- an event it considered highly unlikely -- would be more devastating to the U.S. economy than an outbreak from the isolated island lab where such research is now conducted.

An outbreak of one of the most contagious animal diseases from any of five locations the White House is considering for a new high-security research laboratory would be more devastating to the U.S. economy than from the isolated island laboratory where such research is now conducted, says a report published Friday.